A wide variety of energy absorbing means are available for use in situations where it is desirable to absorb or dissipate the energy of an impact.
For ease of reference only, the present invention will now be described with regard to road applications, where impact of an erratic vehicle particularly at high speeds e.g. on the motor way with a stationary object for example a pole or a guardrail can cause severe injury and/or death to occupants travelling in the vehicle. To reduce the damage to vehicle and occupants during a collision, a number of assemblies have been devised to absorb and/or transfer the energy from the impact. Similarly, vehicles that have been driven off the road should be significantly slowed down or even should be completely stopped by contact with an energy absorbing means, reducing the danger when entering areas of risk.
New constructions or designs of safety barriers have been proposed to improve the capabilities of energy absorption. The safety barriers currently in use are normally made of various materials such as steel and concrete. These materials have disadvantages connected with their cost and their heavy weight. The early publications of steel reinforced thermoplastics (SRTP) can be found in patent applications of FR1306419 and CH449689. A further improved construction is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,776,520, where a steel rod insert is embedded in thermoplastic resin material and the steel rod has a predetermined geometry to produce a controlled failure pattern when the guardrail is subjected to sufficient impact. Chinese utility model CN201087331 and International patent application W02013107203 respectively disclose a W-shaped or wave-shaped guardrail panel both provided with reinforcing rods. Current road barrier systems are continuously and incrementally improved to increase their performance.